Method and apparatus for improved reeling



March 31, 1970 J. L. DURKEE ETAL 3,503,565

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPROVED REELING Filed Sept. 19. 1968 mm s m \m m \w c r. o r a Ewaw 7 M W kw mm K. nn w k CPI ah SA vllll-lllll lvll ll 4 v \fi \n\ N L l United States Patent 3,503,565 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPROVED REELING Jackson L. Durkee, Bethlehem, and Stephen R. Baker, Oley, Pa., and Alfred A. Siess, Jr., West Newton, Mass., assignors to Bethlehem Steel Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 19, 1968, Ser. No. 760,935 Int. Cl. B65h 54/00 US. Cl. 242-25 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE To facilitate unreeling after a long length of parallel Wire strand is completely reeled upon a shipping reel the reel is spun several hundred times in the direction of reeling to feed accumulated slack toward the outside loops of the strand where the slack is taken up by a mechanical ratchet device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to reeling of strand, particularly parallel wire strand.

When parallel wire strand is reeled as described in US. application 575,038, filed Aug. 25, 1966, even though a seemingly tight coil is formed there is often considerable slack distributed among the various loops of strand on the reel. The loops of strand are consequently not in tight contact with the underlying strand layers. When a long length of strand is unreeled this looseness in the loops accumulates and large loops are formed which tend to move progressively toward the inside end of the strand. These hanging loops are subject to tangles which not only slow the unreeling operation but also because they occur beneath superimposed layers of strand where they are diflicult to reach may make unreeling virtually impossible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION We have discovered that strand slack in a reel of strand can be effectively removed by spinning or rotating the reel after reeling is completed a plurality of rotations in the same direction as reeling while taking up slack fed from the reel during each revolution.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the reel spinning device of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is an end elevation of the reel spinning device shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an enlargement of the slack take-up device of the present invention viewed along its axis of rotation.

FIGURE 4 is an enlargement of the slack take-up device viewed from the side.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A reel 11 having flanges 13 and 15 and a drum 17 serves to hold a length of parallel wire strand 19 for shipping after the strand has previously been reeled onto the reel 11 by any suitable reeling apparatus such as for example that shown in US. application 575,038 referred to above. In order to remove accumulated slack from strand 19 reel 11 may be placed in spinning apparatus 20 and spun a number of times as described below. Reel 11 is first mounted upon shaft 21 which is then placed in journal mounts 23 and 25 mounted upon supporting legs 27 attached to base 29. A sleeve 31 surrounding shaft 21 is positioned so that it extends into shaft mounting opening 33 in flange 15 of reel 11. A drive arm 34 having a ice drive pin 35 mounted in one end is secured at its opposite end to sleeve 31. A drive sprocket 37 is also attached to sleeve 31. Drive sprocket 37 may be driven through drive chain 39 and gear reducer 41 by motor 43 which for field use is shown as a low horsepower gasoline motor. If spinning is to be done in the shop then motor 43 will very likely be an electric motor. Drive pin 35 enters an opening 45 in flange 13 and drives or rotates reel 11 as sleeve 31, to which drive arm is attached, is rotated by drive sprocket 37. If the production schedule permits the spinning apparatus shown in FIGURES l and 2 may double as the reeling apparatus for initial reeling of the strand. If there is a limited time allowed for the production of strand, however, the spinning and reeling apparatus will usually constitute separate units.

A sleeve 47 surrounding shaft 21 is positioned so that it extends into shaft mounting opening 49 in flange 13 of reel 11. An arm 51 has a follow pin 53 secured to its outer end and is circumferentially attached to sleeve 47 at its inner end. A ratchet wheel 55 is also attached to sleeve 47 and a tension arm 57 is rotatably mounted upon sleeve 47. As shown in FIGURES 3 and 4 tension arm 57 may comprise flanges 59 and 61 connected by central web 63. Web 63 extends only part of the way between flanges 59 and 61 and sleeve 47 passes through openings 65 and 67 in flanges 59 and 61 respectively with one flange on each side of ratchet wheel 55. A side arm 69 is secured to the end of tension arm 57. Side arm 69 has an attachment opening 71 in the outer end. A pawl or detent 73 is rotatably mounted between flanges 59 and 61 on a pin 75 in a position such that pawl 73 may engage ratchet wheel 55. A tension spring 77 is attached at one end to an extension 79 on pawl 73 and at the other end to a tension pin 81 inserted in holes through flanges 59 and 61 at an appropriate position such that the tension of spring 77 by lever action upon extension 79 forces pawl 73 against the edge of ratchet wheel 55 to form a one way ratchet mechanism.

Arms 51 and 57 and the associated structures constitute so-called ratchet take-up device 83.

When a reel of parallel wire strand is to be spun to tighten the strand upon the reel according to the present invention the reel 11 is first mounted upon shaft 21 of the spinning device with sleeve 31 in opening 33 in flange 15 and sleeve 47 in opening 49 in flange 13. Drive pin 35 secured to drive arm 34 on sleeve 31 is engaged with flange 15 by insertion into an appropriate opening 45 in flange 15 and follower pin 53 secured to follower arm 51 on sleeve 47 is engaged with flange 13 by insertion into the appropriate opening 45 in flange 13. The outer end of strand 19 is then removably attached in any suitable manner to side arm 69 through attachment opening 71. As shown in FIGURE 4 this may conveniently be accomplished by a clevis type shackle 85 inserted through attachment opening 71 securing a swivel shackle 87 to side arm 69. The swivel shackle 87 is in turn secured to a ring 89 and eyebolt 91 screwed into the end of a socket 93 secured to the outer end of strand 19.

Motor 43 is operated to turn reel 11 through gear reducer 41 drive chain 39, sprocket 37 and drive arm 34 in the original direction of reeling at a substantially normal reeling speed. As the reel turns the slack in the strand is gradually fed outwardly towards the outside end of the strand on the reel. As viewed in FIGURE 1, as the reel turns arm 51 and ratchet wheel 55 of ratchet take-up device 83 are rotated with the reel 11 as a consequence of the engagement of follow pin 53 with the reel. Pawl 73 engaging with ratchet wheel 55 prevents independent movement of arm 57 in the direction of rotation of the reel, in this case clockwise, but arm 57 is free to rotate independently in the opposite direction, or, in this case, counterclockwise. As arm 57 therefore begins to move upwardly on the left side of reel 11 as viewed in FIGURE 1 the weight of arm 57 pulls it downwardly against the direction of rotation. The ratchet mechanism does not impede this downward movement of the arm and arm 57 would if it were not secured to the end of the strand simply hang down as the reel rotates. Being secured to the end of strand 19, however, the movement of arm 57 is restricted by the strand. The weight of the arm and the weight of the end of the strand, however, combine to pull the strand out to its fullest extent. Thus any slack in the strand accumulated near the end of the strand is removed by pulling on the strand. When all the slack accumulated near the end of the strand is removed by the combined weight of the arm and the strand the taut strand pulls the arm 57 upward with the rotation of the reel and over the top of the reel. When arm 57 passes over the top of the reel it is prevented from falling down by its own weight on the right side of the reel as viewed in FIGURE 1, or, in other words, in the direction in which the reel is turning, by the engagement of pawl 73 with ratchet wheel 55. Arm 57 therefore cannot descend on the right side of the reel at any greater rate than the speed of rotation of the reel so that the strand is held tightly about the reel on this side. The slack which was removed from the strand on the left of the reel as the arm 57 pulled the strand out is, therefore, prevented from reappearing on the right side of the reel by the inability of the arm 57 to move downwardly at a rate greater than the rate of rotation of the reel.

If desired a weight may be secured to the end of tension arm 57 to aid in pulling the slack out of the strand. We have found, however, that with most parallel wire strand the weight of the arm and the strand itself will be sufficient.

In the spinning of reeled strands of several thousand feet or more as much as a foot of slack may be taken up by arm 57 of ratchet take-up device 83 during every rotation of the reel. This slack cannot appear again in the strand because arm 57 can rotate in only one direction. The exact amount of slack taken out of the strand by each rotation depends, of course, upon how much slack there is in the reeled strand initially and how many times the reel has already been rotated.

A 61 wire parallel wire strand 4500 feet in length may normally have from 70 to as much as 250 feet of reeled slack, with an average of about 150 feet. Such reels of strand will be spun at least 240 times to make sure that all slack is removed and may be spun as many as 500 revolutions without harm. Spinning of one reel of this size will normally take about two hours.

We claim:

1. A method of removing slack from parallel wire strand coiled on a reel comprising:

(a) rotating the reel of strand in the direction of original reeling a plurality of revolutions,

(b) applying tension to the outer end of said strand in a direction opposite to said rotation during at least a part of substantially every rotation of said reel to remove slack fed towards the end of the strand, and

(c) securing the end of the strand against movement relative to the reel in the direction of reel rotation during at least the remainder of every revolution of the reel to prevent the reappearance of slack.

2. A method of removing slack from parallel Wire strand coiled on a reel according to claim 1 wherein th slack is pulled out of the strand at least in part by the weight of a rotating arm temporarily attached to the end of the parallel wire strand and the strand is secured during the remainder of the rotation of the reel by a device which prevents movement of the arm in the direction of reel rotation to an extent substantially greater than reel rotation.

3. Apparatus for removing slack from parallel wire strand coiled on a reel comprising:

(a) a device for spinning the reel in the direction of original reeling, and

(b) a member arranged for free circumferential movement about said reel in a direction opposite to the direction of spinning, having a restricted movement in the direction of spinning no greater than the rotational movement of the reel, and adapted for connection to the end of the outer portion of the strand on the reel.

4. Apparatus for removing slack from parallel wire strand coiled on a reel according to claim 3 wherein element (b) comprises an arm rotatable on the same axis as the reel and having one way movement means adapted to allow unrestricted rotation of said arm about said axis in the direction opposite to spinning of said reel but restricting rotation of said arm about said axis in the direction of spinning to not more than the rotation of said reel during spinning.

5. Apparatus for removing slack from parallel wire strand coiled on a reel according to claim 4 wherein the one way movement means comprises a ratchet means.

6. A method of removing slack from parallel wire strand coiled on a reel comprising:

(a) rotating the reel of strand in the original direction of reeling a plurality of revolutions, and

(b) applying tension to the outer end of said strand in a direction opposite to said rotation during at least a part of substantially every rotation of said reel to remove slack fed toward the end of the strand while preventing any substantial movement of the end of the strand relative to the reel in the same direction as the rotation of the reel during substantially the entire cycle of rotation.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS NATHAN L. MINTZ, Primary Examiner 

